Some TV and radio interviews spark pivotal debates. When Kirsty Wark tried a rather spluttery Newsnight interrogation of Glenn Greenwald, for instance, was that useful or irritating? Enter (via blog) Richard Sambrook, now a professor of journalism but once BBC head of news. "For at least 25 years British broadcasting has been enthralled by the adversarial devil's advocate form of interview … Personally, as a form, I think it is all but exhausted and increasingly tiresome – and seldom reveals as much as a more forensic approach could achieve. It stems from the 1960s and what was then a new breed of broadcaster like Robin Day."

But now, with Frosty dead, and the great inquisitors – Paxo, Humphrys – nearing retirement? Discuss: calmly and forensically, that is.